Thursday, September 25, 2008

Roasted Cauliflower Soup


When I think of fall several types of food come to mind......baked winter squash, hearty soups and poached pears. Because its still in the 80's here (temperature, not decade - hah!), we haven't quite gotten the autumn feel, but I still oven-roasted a head of cauliflower yesterday, with plans of a simple creamy and healthy soup.

I made a cheesy cauliflower soup recently, but I prefer this one, hands down. I was going for a more subtle flavor this time, with the cauliflower center stage - no onions, garlic, cheese or other herbs (besides the garnish). I think roasting the cauliflower first gave it a sweet nutty flavor which worked really well. I balanced that roasted flavor with a dash of sugar, which gave it even more depth. It's also really important to blend it vigorously so that it has a rich creamy consistency.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup
1 head cauliflower
2 T. olive oil
1/2 cup FF half and half
1/2 cup milk
1 small can veggie broth
generous amount of salt & pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar

Heat oven to 450. Cut up and spread cauliflower on baking sheet. Drizzle oil over and mix gently so it's evenly coated. Roast for 20-25 minutes, stirring a couple times until soft on the inside and browned on the outside. Chill until cooled.

Put cauliflower and rest of ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Heat on the stove until hot. Gobble up with a nice grilled cheese sandwich. Yum!

3 comments:

Cherie said...

Yum! that sounds so good! I love soup!

Unknown said...

If you roasted the cauliflower, how did you get your soup so white? Looks wonderful.

Deanna S. said...

Thanks Cherie! You should try it....I always thought cauliflower wasn't as healthy for you as green veggies, but its loaded with vitamin C and calcium.

Hi Louanne - Not sure why it stayed so white, but its probably because of surface area. The charred parts were just on the outside and my pieces were pretty big. So all those yummy innards stayed lily white.